


Puppy Love

by alyciaclebnam



Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-19 01:19:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3590961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alyciaclebnam/pseuds/alyciaclebnam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Falling in love is psychological. It's chemical. It is a progression in and of itself, and progressions - by and large - take time to occur."</p><p>Lauren doesn't believe in love at first sight. Camila makes her question everything she knows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puppy Love

Lauren doesn’t believe in love at first sight.

She doesn’t understand how people could form that strong a connection before ever getting to know each other. She doesn’t get how such a profound feeling – the feeling of being in _love_ – could develop within 0.002 seconds of seeing one another.

The act of seeing someone for the first time cannot possibly afford enough insight into them, cannot possibly establish a bond as deep as love. Love at first sight is a shallow, transient notion – _misguided affection_ , as Lauren prefers to call it.

Her friend Ally insists that it was love at first sight between her and her new boyfriend, but Lauren quietly disagrees. Love doesn’t work that way, she thinks.

(Of course, she doesn’t say anything to her besotted friend – she supports her even though her personal beliefs are different. But Ally’s experience with the ‘love at first sight’ phenomenon still doesn’t change Lauren’s outlook on things.)

Love takes time. Love is a feeling that can take weeks, months, _years_ to develop. Falling in love is a process that cannot be hurried, cannot be squeezed into a single moment like ‘love at first sight’ says it can.

Falling in love is psychological. It’s chemical. It is a progression in and of itself, and progressions – by and large – take time to occur.

***

She thinks about the concept over and over again on her morning run. She tries to expand her mind, tries to be more open to the idea.

But no amount of persuasion can change her stance. Love at first sight doesn’t exist. That’s just what Lauren believes.

She’s barely ten feet from her yard when a ball of fur darts out from the middle of nowhere and tangles his lead around her ankles. Lauren almost trips but catches herself at the last second. As she crouches down to untangle herself from the tiny dog’s leash, she hears hurried footsteps against the pavement and panting that definitely isn’t coming from the dog at her feet.

When she straightens, Lauren finds herself standing before a girl about her age. Her brown hair is curled loosely around her face, and her body is swimming in a sweater that looks four or five sizes too big.

The girl greets her with a sheepish smile as she catches her breath.

“Sorry about that,” She says, taking the dog’s leash from Lauren’s hands. “Leo is just a puppy, and he must still have a lot of that puppy energy inside of him. I told him we were going to the dog park up the road and then BOOM,” She shoots a balled fist out and makes an exploding motion with her fingers. “He shot off like a rocket! I’m sorry that he got caught up around your ankles!”

Lauren laughs lightly and brushes off the apology. “It’s no big deal. Have fun at the dog park.”

The girl smiles again. She tugs on Leo’s leash – the puppy had begun to chew on the laces of her tattered converse – and departs with a wave.

Lauren thinks nothing of the interaction as she walks up the footpath and into her house, where her own dog was waiting patiently by the door.

“Hey Dash!”

She rolls her eyes when the Dachshund ignores her greeting and begins sniffing around her ankles curiously. When Dash gazes up at her accusatorily, Lauren explains.

“You’re just smelling Leo, the puppy I ran into outside.”

Dash doesn’t respond, simply turns around and walks over to his dog bed. He curls up in it and refuses to look in Lauren’s direction.

Lauren scoffs, kicking off her shoes and trudging over to the fridge to find a bottle of water. “Dumb dog and your dumb need to be territorial. It’s like you’re accusing me of cheating on you. I’m offended!”

Dash still refuses to acknowledge her. Lauren stomps all the way up the stairs for good measure.

***

Lauren is stretching her legs on the front porch the next morning, preparing herself for her daily run around the neighbourhood.

The girl from yesterday walks past as she’s doing so. This time, Leo’s leash is firmly in her hand. She waves at Lauren with the other hand, and Lauren waves back.

“Headed to the dog park again?” Lauren asks conversationally, moving from stretching her calves to stretching her quads.

The girl nods with a kind smile, pausing on the path outside Lauren’s house. “The interaction with other dogs helps to keep Leo entertained. Plus, running around out there burns a lot of his puppy energy. He’s easier to handle after a play at the park.”

The girl is still standing on the path when Lauren finishes stretching a few seconds later. She steps off the porch and meets with the girl on the footpath. They exchange small smiles, and Leo sniffs at her feet interestedly. Lauren swears she can feel Dash staring holes at her from the front window – probably trying to figure out whether she really is cheating on him with another dog – but the curtains are drawn and she shakes her head to rid herself of the feeling of being watched.

She begins walking along the path, along her usual jogging route. Lauren is confused when the girl falls into step with her, but she doesn’t question it. When they have been walking together in a comfortable silence for about a minute – the point where Lauren usually transitions from walking to jogging – she finally speaks up.

“I’m not sure if you remember, but the dog park is in the opposite direction,” Lauren informs her companion with an amused smile, pointing her thumb over her shoulder.

“Oh!” The girl’s eyes widen and her cheeks colour. “Right! Sorry! I don’t know what I was thinking… I’m gonna- I’m gonna go now.”

She turns on her heel and hurries back down the path with Leo bounding energetically alongside her. Lauren chuckles as she steps up the pace and begins to jog.

***

Lauren and the girl exchange greetings every morning. There is no real substance to their interactions – it’s mostly small talk – but Lauren grows to appreciate them all the same.

Saying hello to the stranger becomes part of her daily routine, just like her morning run.

(She doesn’t ever accidentally follow Lauren on her jog again, something that Lauren is oddly disappointed with.)

***

It takes two and a half weeks for Lauren to realise that she doesn’t know the girl’s name, and that the girl doesn’t know hers either.

“Good morning!”

The greeting is accompanied by a dazzling smile, and Lauren can’t help but smile in return. Then she brings up the matter at hand.

“You know, I never actually caught your name…?”

“Camila,” The girl informs her, giggling when she too realises that they’ve somehow been interacting without ever mentioning each other’s names.

Lauren repeats her name aloud a few times. Camila. Ca-mEE-la. She’s pleasantly surprised at the way it rolls off her tongue. When her fascination with the girl’s name dies down, Lauren finally introduces herself.

“I’m Lauren,” She tells Camila.

Camila gently mocks her by repeating her name in different voices, tones and accents. Lauren wants to laugh dryly, but the sight of Camila smiling cheekily with her tongue between her teeth makes her think otherwise.

Instead, she just shakes her head and smiles.

***

Lauren wakes up late one morning. As she stretches on the front porch, she pretends that she doesn’t feel disappointed when Camila doesn’t walk by.

***

“We missed you yesterday!” Camila says as she passes the next morning. Leo yaps lightly, as though in agreement.

Lauren swears she can feel her heart fluttering around her ears.

(Before she goes to bed that night, Lauren makes sure to set another alarm just before her usual morning alarm, and triple checks that her phone is at full volume.)

***

One morning after Lauren returns home from her run, Dash greets her with warm eyes and a lolling tongue. He appears to have overcome (or possibly forgotten) his jealousy over Leo, and has finally stopped ignoring her – something for which she is extremely glad. (She sort of doesn’t want to admit it, but she really only has two friends – four if she counts Camila and Leo – and Dash is one of them. The past few days have been somewhat lonely without him to keep her company.)

Lauren scratches him behind the ears. “It’s good to have you back, buddy.”

Dash whoofs gently, and closes his eyes at the touch. Lauren smiles.

She moves over to the couch to sit and cool down, and Dash follows. He drapes himself leisurely over her lap, yawning and stretching until he finds the perfect position. Once he does, he closes his eyes and his breathing deepens almost instantly. Lauren raises an eyebrow at the ease with which he has fallen asleep.

Dash is almost the opposite of little Leo, she muses. He’s not as excitable as he was when he was younger, not nearly as energetic as Camila’s white-and-brown ball of fluff.

She recalls Camila’s words about Leo being entertained by the other dogs at the park and wonders whether that’s what Dash is missing. Maybe he just needs to make new friends.

With that thought in mind, Lauren jumps back onto her feet, waking Dash in the process. She returns to the couch with his leash in her hand and waves it at him. Dash, who is still lying on his back on the couch, looks up at her blearily.

“Come on,” Lauren prompts. “Let’s go to the dog park.”

Dash just blinks at her. Lauren rolls her eyes and commands him to get off the couch so she can clip him to the lead. He looks at her with reproachful eyes – the Dachshund doesn’t particularly like going for walks, and much prefers lazing around the house – but Lauren ignores him.

Still a little tired from her morning run, she traipses up the road with Dash in tow. When they approach the dog park, his demeanour slowly changes and he is soon pulling forward, straining against his collar and lead to reach the park faster.

Lauren grins at his obvious excitement. She unclips him from the lead once they’re inside the gates of the park, and he shoots off like a bullet. He makes a lap around the area of fenced grass before gallivanting into the middle and sniffing curiously at the other dogs.

As she watches him run around and bark excitedly, Lauren silently thanks Camila for her unintentional advice.

***

Lauren continues her routine of bringing Dash to the dog park after her morning run. Dash is happy, and she’s happy because he’s happy. It’s a win-win, really.

(She shakes off the slight feeling of disappointment when she notes that little Leo is never running around the park at the same time. She reasons that her morning run goes for long enough that he and Camila have probably headed home already.)

***

Lauren is holding an enthusiastic Dash by the lead as she attempts to retie her shoelace before she takes him to the park. He starts running circles around her as she kneels on the footpath outside her house, and Lauren has just about had enough of his impatience.

She stands and tugs at his leash to get him to stop. Just as she is about to yell at him for being disobedient – she doesn’t usually yell; she’s just feeling a bit testy because a certain someone didn’t walk past earlier that morning – a voice interrupts before she can tell him off.

“He’s such a cutie!”

It’s Camila, with an ostensibly tired Leo at her feet. Lauren’s mood does an immediate 180 and a smile tugs at the corners of her mouth.

“What’s his name?” Camila asks as the Dachshund pokes his nose into Leo’s fur curiously. The puppy allows it, not in the least bit intimidated by the larger dog.

Lauren watches as Camila proceeds to scratch at Dash’s head. She’s forced to snap out of her daze when Camila repeats her question.

“Dash,” Lauren says hurriedly, her cheeks fighting a rising blush. “His name is Dash.”

Camila smiles as if Lauren’s behaviour is completely normal, and says, “Oh, he’s dashing alright.”

“I guess he _is_ kinda handsome for a dog…?” Lauren replies with a questioning lilt.

“No, I mean he’s literally dashing,” Camila chuckles. “You let go of his lead. Your dog is running away.”

Lauren’s eyes widen and she can’t stop her blush from deepening. “Oh. _Oh_.”

Camila laughs again, and Lauren races to catch her dog before he goes and gets himself hit by a car. She can’t ignore the strange feeling of disappointment tugging at the bottom of her stomach when she returns from around the corner with Dash’s lead firmly in hand, and Camila and Leo are gone.

***

Lauren unconsciously begins to reroute all her paths so that she passes the dog park. Walking to the grocery store to grab a carton of milk? Let’s walk past the dog park! Taking a leisurely evening stroll? Let’s walk past the dog park!

Walking to Ally’s place, which happens to be in the complete opposite direction from the dog park? Let’s take the scenic route and walk past the dog park!

(Dash always eyes her pointedly whenever she drags him along on her little walks, but Lauren ignores him. She refuses to acknowledge the deeper meaning that her actions might entail. Dash is unimpressed, of course, but Lauren doesn’t care. She’s just not ready to admit anything yet.)

***

One morning, instead of Camila walking Leo down the street, it’s a much taller girl with a snapback perched on her loosely curled ombre hair. Lauren watches her approach confusedly. The stranger toting Camila’s dog pauses on the path in front of Lauren’s house, and Lauren can’t help blurting,

“Where’s Camila?”

The stranger responds almost immediately, attitude ringing heavy in the tone of her voice. “Depends who’s asking.”

“I’m Lauren. Camila and I are, um…” She hesitates here, doesn’t know whether she and the brown eyed-girl are still considered acquaintances at this point – maybe even strangers – because they don’t exactly know each other well.

Lauren settles for calling them friends, because she figures she wouldn’t wake up at the butt crack of dawn for someone who wasn’t even a _friend_. When the word “friends” eventually slips from her lips, the stranger gives her a smirk and hums.

“She came down with a stomach bug and asked me to walk Leo for her,” The girl lifts Leo’s leash pointedly. “She’s at home resting.”

Lauren wonders why Camila asked this girl specifically. Were they roommates? Friends? _Girlfriends_? Walking the dog as a favour is something that a girlfriend would do, isn’t it? Thankfully, the stranger clears everything up with her next few words.

“I’m Dinah, by the way. Camila’s best friend.”

Lauren is inexplicably relieved by the news. Dinah is wearing an expression that she can’t quite decipher, but she doesn’t even care. She waves the girl off cheerily as she heads off in the opposite direction on her morning run.

***

Lauren catches Camila the next day, and greets her with a container in a plastic bag. When Camila takes the bag with a befuddled expression, Lauren rushes to explain.

“Dinah walked by with Leo yesterday. She said you had a stomach bug…?” Camila nods at this, and Lauren smiles sympathetically. “I happened to make a chicken-and-vegetable broth last night for dinner, and I figured you might appreciate some to take home with you… I mean, y’know – just in case you were still feeling under the weather?”

Lauren tries to play it off like she didn’t make the soup specifically so that she would have leftovers to present to Camila the next morning. Fortunately, Camila doesn’t question her. She just gives the green-eyed girl an endearing smile and thanks her for being so thoughtful.

(Lauren is finding it harder and harder to deny whatever it is she’s denying.)

***

The heavens had opened up last night, and the early morning offered no reprieve. It’s still bucketing down by the time Lauren usually heads out on her morning run. She gazes wistfully out the rain-spattered window.

She obviously isn’t going to be able to run that morning.

So she just sits and waits, hoping that the rain will eventually let up. When the clouds finally clear, Lauren jumps up eagerly. She tries to drag a reluctant Dash along with her, but he refuses to leave the warmth of his dog bed and she ultimately gives up.

Lauren decides to just go to the dog park alone.

The place is empty, save for one other person and her dog. The girl is bundled up in a thick overcoat and definitely does not look pleased to be at the park in this weather.

Lauren chuckles at the disapproving frown that morphs onto the girl’s face when her dog finds a large puddle of mud and begins to roll around in it.

The stranger tuts and shakes her head, grimacing when the dog starts trotting back towards her, his once-creamy fur matted brown with dirt and mud and grass. She points out into the park, an obvious instruction for him to go back – and stay away from her clean clothes – and Lauren can’t help the laughter that slips from her mouth.

The girl whirls around to face Lauren and glares at her. Lauren immediately silences herself and adopts a blank expression.

“You don’t have a dog,” The stranger states pointedly.

“What?” Lauren frowns confusedly. Then she remembers that she’s at a dog park without a dog. “Oh. Yeah. Right. I do have a dog, actually. He’s just… at home.”

“You came to a dog park but you left your dog at home?” The girl asks, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow at her.

Lauren chuckles nervously. “Uh… yeah. It’s a long story, actually.”

“I have time,” The girl says with a shrug. “Lord knows I ain’t letting my dog near me again until his fur has completely dried out. I’m Normani, by the way,” She adds, holding out a hand.

Lauren shakes it and introduces herself.

“So, are you gonna tell me the story?” Normani prompts, unbuttoning her coat since the weather has now warmed up a little. “Or are we just gonna stand here in an awkward silence until I have to go home?”

Lauren bites her lip. Then she exhales heavily through her nose. What has she got to lose by telling her story to this stranger?

“Okay, so, there’s this girl…”

***

Once the story starts, Lauren can’t find it in herself to stop. She spills all the details to Normani, everything from the first time they met, to the time that she secretly made Camila chicken-and-vegetable soup when she found out she was sick, up until the current point in time, where Lauren has resorted to going to the dog park. Without her dog. Just to try and see Camila.

“… so you’re like, stalking her?” Normani asks, furrowing her brows.

“What?! No!” Lauren vehemently denies the accusation. “It’s not _stalking_! More like… _active surveillance_.”

Normani purses her lips. “Uh huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Lauren rolls her eyes and Normani just laughs. She eventually cracks a smile though, when she realises that telling the story has actually lifted a weight off her chest. When Normani asks if she’s considered actually talking to Camila, Lauren pouts.

“We do talk,” She says. “Every morning before I go for a run.”

“No, you make small talk,” Normani corrects. “I mean talk to her for real. Ask her what her favourite food is, what she does for fun, if she has any family. Does she prefer books or movies? What kind of music is she into? What side of the bed does she sleep on-”

“Okay!” Lauren cuts her off before she can get any further. “You’ve made your point. I have to talk to her _properly_.”

Normani grins smugly, and Lauren smacks her shoulder.

***

The next morning, Lauren thinks she’s definitely losing the battle against her nerves. As she stretches on the front porch, she can feel her hands shaking. She wipes away the sweat beading along her hairline.

Camila strolls down the path, Leo alongside her, and comes to a stop outside Lauren’s house. She smiles beatifically, and before she can utter a word of greeting, Lauren exclaims,

“Do you want to talk?”

It comes out louder than expected, startling Camila slightly. Lauren apologises with a blush. She hopes Normani would be proud of her for taking the first step, however crappy a step it may have been.

Another thing she doesn’t expect is for Camila to blush as well, a light pink dusting the apples of her cheeks as she nods. Lauren is enamoured by the sight.

She gestures to the wicker chairs on her porch. “Come sit?” She asks, gently this time.

Camila smiles, and accepts the offer. Lauren takes Leo’s lead and opens the front door. She unclips him and they both watch as Dash greets him excitedly. Lauren closes the door then, and joins Camila on the porch.

They exchange shy smiles, and Lauren is finally willing to admit that she has a small, teeny tiny crush on Camila.

***

They talk a lot more than they did in the beginning. Their conversations have certainly become more meaningful, delving deeper than the usual small talk.

Lauren learns that Camila prefers chocolates over flowers (“You can’t eat flowers,” She says reasonably); her favourite food is Hawaiian pizza; she’s learning guitar in her spare time; she has younger sister (Sofi, which is short for Sofia). She learns that they both prefer books over movies, and listen to the same types of music – The 1975 and Ed Sheeran are both at the tops of their lists.

There is a light in Camila’s eyes when Lauren asks about her favourite childhood memory, and she excitedly retells the story of when her parents brought baby Sofi home for the first time. Lauren adores the way that Camila talks about her sister, her love for Sofi evident in her heart-warming smile.

Lauren is endeared by Camila’s erratic hand gestures, the way that she bites her lip between her teeth when she’s hesitant to say something, how she takes the tip of her tongue between her teeth when she smiles sometimes. Lauren realises that light brown is her new favourite eye colour, and her favourite sound is the sound of Camila’s laugh. She likes the way Camila’s jaw moves to the side when she talks, likes the way Camila talks about things with such passion and depth, like she’s lived on this earth for centuries longer than she really has.

Camila is a work of art, and Lauren is captivated by her beauty.

***

Lauren sometimes forgoes her morning run just so she can sit on the front porch with Camila and talk. Camila sometimes forgoes taking Leo to the dog park, letting him romp around with Dash inside Lauren’s house instead. Leo seems to have breathed a new life into her little Dachshund, and Lauren thinks she could say the same about herself and Camila.

***

One morning while she and Camila are talking, Lauren swears she can feel eyes on her. She glances up and down the street, but there is no one else around. Camila looks at her questioningly, and Lauren just shakes her head.

“I thought I felt-”

She’s interrupted by a muffled laugh and the shuffle of shoes on the pavement and then a loud, booming voice.

“CAMILA, LAUREN HAS A HUGE CRUSH ON YOU! I CAUGHT HER TRYNA STALK YOU AT THE DOG PARK A WHILE BACK-”

Lauren sees Dinah and Normani doubled over laughing on the corner of her street, and a blush blossoms quickly across her cheeks, down her neck and to the tips of her ears. She narrows her eyes at her traitorous one-time friend.

Normani and Dinah finally recover from their bout of laughter and grin at the two girls sitting on the porch. Normani smirks at the expression on Lauren’s face.

“Did I forget to mention that I’m actually friends with Camila?” She says by way of explanation, and Lauren has to fight the urge to throw something at her.

Dinah just shrugs, her smug expression firmly in place. “Now that you know, we’re gonna get going.”

The two friends disappear and, without something else to focus her eyes on, Lauren drops her gaze to her lap. The girls sit in silence for a moment before Camila speaks up.

“Why won’t you look at me?”

“I’m embarrassed. Mortified, actually,” Lauren confesses. “Normani and Dinah literally just screamed that I have a crush on you. To the whole street. I’m pretty sure everyone heard.”

She gestures to the front window of the house opposite hers, where an elderly woman is peeking out from between the wooden slats of her blinds.

“Do you really have a crush on me?” Camila asks softly.

Lauren still can’t look at her, so she just nods pathetically. She hears Camila sigh and sneaks a peek at her through her lashes. She doesn’t expect for Camila to be blushing as hard as she is right now.

She _definitely_ doesn’t expect for Camila to reach over and tangle their fingers together, either.

That’s when Lauren gets it.

“Oh. _Oh_.”

Camila smiles when Lauren finally looks up at her again. “Yeah.”

“So you…?”

“I do,” Camila admits. She doesn’t even need Lauren to finish the question; she knows what she’s being asked.

“Oh. Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

They giggle when they hear Leo and Dash yapping at each other from within the house, as if replaying their own doggy version of the scene outside.

***

Lauren still doesn’t believe in love at first sight. She still thinks falling in love is a progression – a progression that she’s becoming intimately familiar with.

Puppy love, on the other hand?

She thinks she might have a new meaning for the term, and she believes in it wholeheartedly.

Lauren watches as Leo runs circles around Dash on their way to the dog park. She leans across the path and nudges Camila with her shoulder. The brown-eyed girl responds with a radiant smile, and doesn’t hesitate to link their fingers together.

Lauren feels herself falling deeper and deeper, and the only thing she can do is smile. 


End file.
